Prince Paul (producer)

Paul Edward Huston(born April 2, 1967), better known by hisstage namePrince Paul,is an Americanrecord producer,disc jockeyandrecording artistfromAmityville, New York.Paul began his career as a DJ forStetsasonic.He has worked on albums byBoogie Down Productions,Gravediggaz,MC Lyte,Big Daddy Kaneand3rd Bass,among others. Major recognition for Prince Paul came when he producedDe La Soul's debut album3 Feet High and Rising(1989), in which he pioneered new approaches tohip hop production,mixing and sampling, notably by includingcomedy sketches.

Prince Paul
Prince Paul in 2000
Background information
Birth name	Paul Edward Huston
Also known as	The Undertaker Chest Rockwell Dr. Strange
Born	(1967-04-02)April 2, 1967 Amityville, New York,U.S.
Genres	Hip hop R&B
Occupations	Record producer DJ
Discography	Prince Paul production discography
Years active	1981–present
Labels	Tommy Boy Warner Bros. Elektra WordSound Razor and Tie
Member of	Handsome Boy Modeling School Stetsasonic
Formerly of	Gravediggaz

His first solo album,Psychoanalysis: What Is It?,came out in 1997, followed by a second album,A Prince Among Thieves,in 1999.

Life and career

Early life

Paul Edward Huston was born on April 2, 1967 inAmityville, New York.Paul was interested in music from a young age and started collecting vinyl when he was five.According to his mother, he was mature for his age and tended to hang out with older friends.

When he was in fifth grade he started DJing, using a makeshift setup of one Lafayette turntable hooked up to another turntable set and using the balance knob as a fader.In 1981, at age 14, Paul performed a DJ set at The Ace Center Amityville that helped him gain recognition.He did a routine with Trouble Funk's "Pump Me Up" which he later described as his "claim to fame."After The Ace Center performance, Paul started doing parties and tapes with Biz Markie while he was in 8th grade.At the same time, Paul's middle school music teacher was Everett Collins, a drummer forThe Isley Brothers.Collins later introduced Paul to De La Soul memberMaseo.

1980s and 1990s

Prince Paul began performing with groups during his teenage years, first joining a group called Soul Brothers with his longtime friend Don Newkirk.Paul was one of the original members ofStetsasonic.He joined the group in 1984 after impressing Daddy-O with his routine in the "Brevoit Day Celebration" DJ battle in Brooklyn.Daddy-O was struck by Paul's energy, saying that he performed his routine with Liquid Liquid's song "Cavern", "like he was mad at the turntables".Paul credits Grandmaster Flash's song "Flash To The Beat" as the reason he purchased his drum machine.

Prince Paul produced "The Gas Face" and "Brooklyn-Queens" on3rd Bass' 1989 debutThe Cactus Album.The original version of "The Gas Face" was recorded on 4-track cassette tape and started out as mistake.Paul wanted to change the beat after he realized the pattern was not what he had intended, butMC SerchandPete Niceconvinced him to keep it.The song was recorded on the 4th of July.

Paul also worked onDe La Soul's first three albums,3 Feet High and Rising(1989),De La Soul Is Dead(1991), andBuhloone Mindstate(1993).De La Soul is Deadreceived a five mic album review fromThe Source.According to Paul,3 Feet High and Rising(1989) had a budget of about $20,000 and took a month and a half to make.In Brian Coleman's 2007 bookCheck the Technique,Paul reflected on his work with De La Soul by saying, "If there was ever a sign of the existence of God, De La Soul would be that proof to me. I've never had such a perfect fit in any other production situation."

In 1990,Russell Simmonsgave Prince Paul an imprint under hisDef Jamlabel, however the only album,It Takes a Nation of Suckers to Let Us Inby Resident Alien, was never officially released. It is available as an unofficial release, which is different to a bootleg.

Along withFrukwanof Stetsasonic,Too PoeticofBrothers Grimm,and theRZAofWu-Tang Clan,Prince Paul formed the groupGravediggaz.They recorded a demo together in 1991 and released their first albumNiggamortis/6 Feet Deepin 1994 on Gee Street Records.Before signing a deal with Gee Street,Eazy-Ewanted to release the album onRuthless Records.Paul flew to Los Angeles to have a meeting with Eazy-E and Jerry Heller but was unimpressed with the contract and declined. After the group signed to Gee Street, Paul estimated that it took them about six months to complete the album.

Prince Paul also contributed to several other projects during this time period. He produced three songs forBoogie Down Productions' 1992 albumSex and Violence,though later expressed frustration that the group released the album before he had finalized and polished those tracks.In 1995, Paul andTeo Macerocollaborated to produce the solo debut from guitaristVernon Reid,and in 1996 he appeared on the compilation albumAmerica Is Dying Slowly.Additionally, Paul joined forces with Amityville rapper Superstar to launch a supergroup called Horror City. Paul produced a Horror City album, but proved unable to successfully market the album to any record labels.Ultimately, Paul decided to offerHorror Cityas a free download in 2010.

In 1996, during the early recording sessions forStakes Is High,De La Soul and Prince Paul decided to part ways.Although Paul was not involved in the making of the album, he has praised it in several interviews, once saying, "I was going through a serious transition period in my life when that album dropped. I was trying to figure out the next thing I was going to do; I was going through a custody case for my son, and I was running out of money. There were a lot of things going on at the time and in a sense, that album pulled me through everything."

After splitting from De La Soul, Paul released two solo albums in the following years:Psychoanalysis: What Is It?(1996) andA Prince Among Thieves(1999). These albums featured a wide range of rappers, includingBig Daddy Kane,Xzibit,Kool Keith,andEverlast.When Paul was recordingPsychoanalysishe thought his career was over and had a hard time finding people who wanted to be involved with the project.Many of the vocals were provided by friends of his from outside the music industry.Years later he recalled thinking, "Some people might get butt-hurt about it, but so what? It's probably the last record I'll make anyway," during the recording of "Beautiful Night (Manic Psychopath)".The song is very dark and deals with date rape, racism, and violence.

According to Paul, he originally proposed the idea forA Prince Among Thievesto Russell Simmons in the early 1990s but Simmons was not interested.While describing his goals for the album in an interview he said, "I wanted to make a movie on wax. I wanted to make an adults' kid album."To prepare for the album he watched manyB moviesand tried to use scenes from various films as inspiration.OnA Prince Among Thieves,Paul also repurposed some of the beats he had initially composed forHorror City.In addition to the extensive list of rappers on the album, Paul reached out to Vanilla Ice to perform on "Handle Your Time" withSadat Xand Xzibit.He also reached out toThe Notorious B.I.G.about playing a role on the album and was supposed to meet up with him the night he was murdered.

Prince Paul formed the duoHandsome Boy Modeling SchoolwithDan the Automator.Their 1999 debut album,So... How's Your Girl?,featuredSean Lennon,Del the Funky Homosapien,Alec Empire,andDon Novello.

21st century

Paul contributed to multiple projects in the year 2000. His work from that year includes the song "The Fantabulous Rap Extravaganza" onDeltron 3030'sself-titled album,as well asIt's Very Stimulating,the debut EP byMC Paul Barman.

Prince Paul's 2003 albumPolitics of the Businessagain featured many guests such asChuck D,Ice-T,The Beatnuts,andWordsworth.The latter also collaborated on a track Paul composed forThe SpongeBob SquarePants Moviesoundtrack.Paul followed this project with a second Handsome Boy Modeling School album,White People,in 2004. His next solo album wasItstrumental(2005). It encompasses a range of genres, relying heavily on past samples, especially fromA Prince Among Thieves,and combining them with lighthearted skits about hisdepression.As of 2023,Itstrumentalis Paul's most recent studio album.

Paul continued to collaborate throughout the 2000s. In 2005, he produced the albumThe Art of Picking Up Womenbythe Dix,which combines some of hip-hop's misogyny and boasting with 1960s-styleR&B.He also collaborated withParliament,Don Newkirk,andTalking HeadskeyboardistBernie Worrellto release an album titledTurn My Teeth Up!(2007) under the moniker Baby Elephant. Another project Paul produced during this period wasMontezuma's Revenge,a 2009 album bySouls of Mischief.On this album, Paul extensively used vintage equipment such as theEmu SP-12,Ensoniq ASR-10,Akai MPC-60and anAkai MPC-2000.

At the48th Annual Grammy Awardsin 2006, Prince Paul was awarded theGrammy Award for Best Comedy Albumfor his work onChris Rock'sNever Scared.

In 2012, Paul spoke openly in an interview about the possibility of doing another De La Soul album after Maseo had made some public comments about a reunion. In the interview, Paul states that he asked the members of De La Soul to work on a new album on and off since 1999.Though he wanted to do a reunion at one time, it seemed in the interview he had moved past the idea, partially because of the far more restrictive sampling laws that exist today. He said, "It's nice to think about it, but I kind of like where we left it. There would be so many expectations. For me to do another De La record, I don't think I could really live up to it. Especially in a day and age where I can't openly sample like that."

Paul continued to provide occasional contributions to various products in the 2010s and 2020s. In 2016, he collaborated with Brazilian hip hop fusion group Broozkill! on an album titledThrowback to the Future.In 2017 Prince Paul helped to scoreMogul,aGimlet Mediapodcast about hip-hop scene-makerChris Lighty.In 2020, Prince Paul co-produced theGorillazsong "Pac-Man"for the band'sSong Machineweb series.

In 2017, Prince Paul joined the Creators Advisory Board ofTracklib.In an interview with Tracklib, Prince Paul stated that "I know Tracklib will help (producers) because it will give everybody an opportunity to sample without having to look over their shoulder."

Equipment

Paul has talked about his fondness for vintage equipment in several interviews. One of his favorite pieces of vintage equipment is theAkai S900,which he credits for having a unique sound, saying, "Even though it's big and bulky, nothing sounds like that. It's pretty flexible, it's easy to work, and it's easy to truncate your sample and get things tight...When you look at all this new technology, everything sounds very sterile. Everything is clean and super quiet. It kind of lacks something. When I plug that in, it's like, 'Wow, this is hip hop.'"

Record collection

He is known for sampling from a wide range of genres.RapperBiz Markieonce said of Paul's production style, "Prince Paul's contribution to hip-hop is that you could use records that weren't by James Brown or just break-beats."

Style and influences

Unlike the vast majority of hip-hop producers during the 1980s and early 1990s, Paul explored many genres outside of funk and soul to extract samples.

Chris Rocklisted theBuhloone Mindstatealbum at number ten on his "Top 25 Albums" list. He credited the album as helping to shape him as a comedian.In 1999, Rock appeared on Paul'sA Prince Among Thieves.Later in 2005, Rock's debut album was produced by Paul.

Paul creditsThe Bomb SquadandPublic Enemyas being a significant influence on early De La Soul production, saying, "Early Public Enemy production used layers upon layers and layers, and their arrangements were always super duper incredible to me. We were kind of like students to what they did."In addition to The Bomb Squad, he also listsGeorge Clinton,Dr. Dre,Rick Rubin,andBernie Worrellas his major influences.

While Paul continues to utilize samples, he has expanded his production to include live instrumentation, including guitar, bass guitar, and several analog keyboards.To combine elements of sampling and live instrumentation, Paul now re-plays some of his samples with instruments. In a 2010 interview he described the process by saying, "I’ve gotten to the point now where I’ll re-play samples with instruments. I learned how to interpolate, change the sound, and dust it out so that when I’m re-playing certain samples, it sounds like a direct sample from a record."

Paul has credited the process of working withDan the Automatoron theHandsome Boy Modeling Schoolproject as helping him learn a great deal about production.

Discography

Main article:Prince Paul production discography

Solo albums

• 1996:Psychoanalysis: What Is It?(WordSound Records, later reissued byTommy Boy/Warner Bros. Recordsin 1997 with bonus cuts)
• 1999:A Prince Among Thieves(Tommy Boy/Warner Bros. Records)
• 2003:Politics of the Business(Razor & Tie)
• 2005:Itstrumental(Female Fun Records)
• 2005:Hip Hop Gold Dust(Antidote)

Collaborative albums

• 1986:On Fire(Stetsasonic)
• 1988:In Full Gear(Stetsasonic)
• 1989:3 Feet High and Rising(De La Soul)
• 1991:Blood, Sweat & No Tears(Stetsasonic)
• 1991:De La Soul Is Dead(De La Soul)
• 1992:It Takes a Nation of Suckas to Let Us In(Resident Alien) (later released as a free download)
• 1993:Buhloone Mindstate(De La Soul)
• 1994:Niggamortis/6 Feet Deep(Gravediggaz)
• 1995:Prince Paul presents Horror City(Horror City) (later released as a free download)
• 1999:So... How's Your Girl?(Handsome Boy Modeling School)
• 2000:It's Very Stimulating(MC Paul Barman)
• 2004:White People(Handsome Boy Modeling School)
• 2005:The Art of Picking Up Women(The Dix)
• 2008:Baby Loves Hip Hop presents The Dino 5(Dino 5)
• 2012:Negroes on Ice(Negroes on Ice)
• 2016:Throwback to the Future(BROOKZILL!)

Awards and nominations

Year	Nominee / work	Award	Result	Ref.
2006	Never Scared	Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album	Won

External links

• Prince Pauldiscography atDiscogs
• Prince Paul RBMA video lecture session